


Friends

by Vituperative_cupcakes



Category: Mother 2: Gyiyg no Gyakushuu | EarthBound
Genre: Friendship, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-03-25
Updated: 2014-03-25
Packaged: 2018-01-16 23:01:33
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 433
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1364962
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Vituperative_cupcakes/pseuds/Vituperative_cupcakes
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Ness muses on Porky</p>
            </blockquote>





	Friends

Back in Onette, Ness had never really thought he was popular. What was the difference when you only lived near two or three kids? Only once he'd traveled, saw the world, could he begin to understand Porky's jealousy.

Porky.

Even back then, everyone had noticed something _off_ about the family. He knew how Porky and his brother had to play far, far away from the house until afternoon because their parents were “napping.” His mother had warned him against staying for ice cream, no matter the desperate looks Picky shot him, no matter how unsatisfying dinner had been. Ness always thought it strange that small portions of home-cooked food sated him more than the junk feast the Minch family laid out for their kids.

They'd actually named him “Porky.” That was how loving they'd been.

The news had startled a “sorry” out of him when he first heard. Porky, oddly enough, had received it with blunt stoicism, a shrug of his shoulders and a gaze off into the distance as if to say ' _so_?'

Porky was never the most fun kid to play with. It was always Invaders or Robbers or Tyrant, nothing heroic or lighthearted, nothing Ness ever wanted to play. Other kids gave the demanding boy a wide berth, but Ness had no trouble capitulating. Once you got past the need for control, Porky's games were actually clever. Not _fun_ , per se, but you'd never feel you'd wasted an afternoon. Porky had strategies, plans that bordered on diabolical. If they'd known of chess, Porky would have been an ace.

Perhaps a better term to apply to Ness, rather than popular, would have been 'likable.' Perhaps he did reach past Porky's shell of greed and cynicism. Perhaps Porky really did like him to hate him so.

Perhaps, perhaps, perhaps.

He had never been able to understand Porky's fixation on him, though he had seen its roots as possessiveness in their earlier childhood. When townies brought their kids up to the bluff, Porky would clap a hand on Ness' shoulder.

“ _He's_ my lieutenant.”

And hadn't Ness felt a little pride?

It was the only overt affection Porky had shown.

Far into the future, when Ness had become a father himself, he pondered Porky's last words to him. A taunt. A query. Like he wanted Ness to chase him. And as he sat with his daughter on his knee, he did feel a pang of regret that he would not, could never chase after Porky. The chase was the territory of adventurous little boys. Ness had grew beyond that.

He doubted Porky ever would.

 

 


End file.
